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Football Coach Bill O'Brien speaks at one of last year's Coaches Caravan stops.

Image: GoPSUsports.com

Seven head coaches joining O'Brien for Penn State Coaches Caravan

April 24, 2013

Seven head coaches joining O'Brien for Penn State Coaches Caravan

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Building on Penn State's "One Team" inaugural year momentum, highlighting the highly successful first season under football coach Bill O'Brien and looking ahead to 2013, the Penn State Coaches Caravan tour begins another road trip April 30 with visits to 12 locations.

O'Brien will headline the bus tour of many Penn State alumni strongholds across Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic. The 2012 Bear Bryant and Maxwell Football Club national Coach of the Year will participate in all 12 Coaches Caravan stops and will be joined by other head coaches at each event. The April 30 stop in Reading (Penn State Berks) and the May 7 event in Williamsport (Penn College) are sold out.

At each Coaches Caravan stop, Penn State alumni and fans will have the opportunity to hear from O’Brien and at least one other head coach and ask questions about the Nittany Lions’ nationally recognized 31-sport athletic program at a lunch or evening event. Penn State was No. 3 in the most recent Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings of all Division I programs.

Jointly sponsored by the Penn State Alumni Association and the Nittany Lion Club, Coaches Caravan registration is under way at www.alumni.psu.edu/coachescaravan and www.GoPSUsports.com. More than 3,000 Penn State alumni and fans have signed up for Caravan events. Advance registration is required for all Coaches Caravan events.

Four Penn State mentors set to join O’Brien for selected stops on the Coaches Caravan during the April 30-May 2 opening week of the tour: Patrick Chambers (men’s basketball), Russ Rose (women’s volleyball), Cael Sanderson (wrestling) and Coquese Washington (women’s basketball).

Three more Nittany Lion head coaches will accompany O’Brien for selected stops during the May 7-9 second week of the Coaches Caravan: Guy Gadowsky (men’s hockey), Char Morett (field hockey) and Mark Pavlik (men’s volleyball). Chambers will attend the May 8 events in New York City and Scranton.

Morett, Rose, Sanderson and Washington all led their teams to Big Ten championships in 2012-13. (see below for listing of events and coaches attending)

For the second consecutive year, the Coaches Caravan will be a part of the Penn State Alumni Association’s Greater Scranton Chapter annual scholarship dinner at Genetti Manor. The reception on May 8 begins at 6:30 p.m. and dinner is at 7:30 p.m. Last year’s Scranton event drew a crowd of 930.

O’Brien and his fellow head coaches have championed Penn State’s “One Team” philosophy this year, with the 31 varsity teams, athletics, campuses, communities and constituencies all playing a role in the Nittany Lions’ academic and athletic success. Penn State has captured a school record seven Big Ten Championships thus far in 2012-13, while earning an NCAA Graduation Rate of 88 percent and a school record 100 Academic All-Big Ten honorees among the Fall sport student-athletes and a total of 164 through the Winter sports season.

The 2013 Penn State Coaches Caravan events and coaches attending (subject to change):